Wines of Spain

Rating:
Summary: A Knowlegable Guide to Spain
Review: A very helpful guide to the wines of Spain if one is familiar with Spain and its geography. Would recommend purchasing a copy prior to a visit to Spain for use as Spainsh wines are sampled. Found the book helpful in buying wines and communicating with wine merchants. Especially helpful if one is searching for "el vino blanco".

Rating:
Summary: Incomplete Guide
Review: As an avid reader on Spanish wines, I find this book fairly uninteresting and incomplete. Sure there are lots of wine reviews and descriptions, so if you're looking for a general wine guide on Spain, this is fine. But some topics are spotty, such as Alvaro Palacios, who is one of the top and most exciting winemakers in all of Spain - the only thing on him is on his wines - nothing on him at all. The Wines of Spain is a much more interesting and complete book

Rating:
Summary: Traipsing Through Rioja
Review: Good overall background on the wines of spain, covering all of the major wine regions and grape varieties. Author writes with clarity from considerable experience. Found it useful as a resource for learning more about Spanish wine.

Rating:
Summary: Suggestions for Resources on Spanish Wines ...
Review: Just a warning to those of your who are interested in purchasing this book. Please note that it is a "pocket guide" and, as such, you are purchasing a thin list of spanish wines divided by regions and not much more. The reviews are cursory as is the information pertaining to each region, the history of wine in Spain, the winemakers etc. Also, I found the ratings to be too cursory as there are just different numbers of stars pertaining to the winery itself. There is no breakdown as to vintage years etc.

As such, if you already own Robert Parker's Guide, his section on Spanish wines is better than this pocket guide in terms of ratings. However, if you wish to have a pocket sized laundry list of wineries by regions go ahead and purchase this guide and you may not be disappointed especially given the lack of resources on Spanish wine in particular.

If you are interested more in Spain as a winemaking country. I would highly recommend "The New Spain: A Complete Guide to Contemporary Spanish Wine" by John Radford. This book can sit on your coffee table. It has nice pictures and much more in-depth description of the current state of the Spanish wine industry. Radford's descriptions of each region are interesting and well written and a pleasure to read. I certainly found myself excited to explore the wines that Spain has to offer. Those of you who are looking for a good reference on Spanish wines in particular Radford's book is the to purchase.